


l'artiste et la muse

by surrealmeme



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Art, Artist Grantaire, Enjolras as Apollo, Internal Monologue, Introspection, M/M, No Dialogue, Painting, Renaissance References, in Grantaire's eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 06:18:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15679698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrealmeme/pseuds/surrealmeme
Summary: The strokes of Grantaire’s brush glide across the large canvas, committing to immortal memory the image of his god made human and walking on earth. It was almost cathartic to him, the process of replicating what he thought of as impossible, inaccessible beauty that he could never truly behold.





	l'artiste et la muse

The strokes of Grantaire’s brush glide across the large canvas, committing to immortal memory the image of his god made human and walking on earth. The piece was assigned as his final, but he painted with a passion and fervour that far surpassed the weak desire for a good grade. Grantaire painted as if he were worshiping his subject, his Apollo reborn, his Enjolras.

Grantaire’s professor had instructed the class to paint a modern interpretation of Greek but in a style like traditional Renaissance artists’. And Grantaire, as full of hubris his thoughts may sound, believed he was creating art more beautiful than _The Birth of Venus_ or the _Mona Lisa_. More wondrous than any Raphael, Donatello, or Caravaggio. All because he had the greatest muse of all - Enjolras, who stood in an elegant and powerful pose.

Grantaire’s Apollo entranced the masses not with song, but with speech; he was an orator whose calls for justice and equality enraptured audiences as well as any song from a lyre. And yet, Grantaire could hardly forget that lyre, not when he knew Enjolras’s long, thin, nimble fingers would look exquisite on its strings. So he painted Enjolras a handsome wooden podium, embellished with golden motifs inspired by said lyre. But those thin, scroll-like lines were a mere complement to the jewel of the podium - the monochromatic image of the Oracle of Delphi, incredibly rich in detail but of a color near indistinguishable from the podium itself. What this ensured was that the visage of the Oracle did not detract from Enjolras’s glory, but suggested that he was not only Apollo, but also his oracle. That Enjolras’s passionate speeches were the truth and that his dreamed of future would come to be.

But Grantaire, despite his devotion to and veneration of Enjolras, could not fully believe his words. So he best faked it through his brush and paint, quickly moving on to lavishing beautiful details on Enjolras’s perfect face, radiant hair, and simple garb that looked like rich royal robes on his body.

A loose tie, vibrantly and strikingly red, rested on Enjolras’s chest, providing an accent to the white, gold, and pale peach tones that were the rest of his body. Grantaire rinsed his brush, dipped it into one of several specially concocted golds, and painted delicate, shining collar pins onto Enjolras’s shirt. They were in the shape of half a laurel wreath - a symbol of Apollo - and gracefully followed the line of Enjolras’s collar. A slight bit of red brought a youthful and impassioned flush into Enjolras’s cheeks, emphasized his lips; deep, regal blue was the color of his striking eyes.

And of course, the sun itself. Apollo’s halo of golden light.

Grantaire picked up a new brush, dampened it, and finally selected the shade of gold he had spent the most time of perfecting; it was the gold that would be used to bring color, dimension, and inhumanly beautiful life into Enjolras’s lustrous hair. His crown, Grantaire called it.

Grantaire painted with abandon, simply knowing where and how to put down his next brushstroke. It was almost cathartic to him, the process of replicating what he thought of as impossible, inaccessible beauty that he could never truly behold. But now, it was Grantaire that stood in front of the canvas as he immortalized the image of Enjolras as Apollo with an accuracy, detail, passion and love that could only be conveyed by someone admired and loved greatly by Enjolras in return. And that someone was Grantaire, an artist blessed enough to be loved by not only his god but also his muse.


End file.
